This
is collaborative team response to the 1997 National Design Competition
for an Indian Memorial to the Native souls who died at the Battle
of Little Bighorn — Custer's last stand.
The
Proposed Indian Memorial integrates Native American traditional
and symbolic elements into a work of art that is, at once,
archetypal and universal for all people.
The
Memorial centerpiece is The Great Bead Loom, composed of 7560
hand-sized specially-produced woven glass beads. Colored red,
white, black, and yellow, the beads represent life, and the
colors and fabric of the human family. Viewed from the 7th
Cavalry Monument, against the backdrop of the distant northern
hills, the Loom's horizontal stripes evoke peace and repose.
Sunlight passing through the red transparent beads will fall
on the native prairie as blood-red shadows.
Double
three-pole Tipi Frames reach skyward to carry the weight of
the Sky Lodge Pole. The Great Bead Loom is stretched taut between
the horizontal Sky and Earth Lodge Poles. The triangular arrangement
of poles of each Tipi are inverted (in plan) and represent
male and female prayer pathways to heaven. The Great Bead Loom
is within the double Tipi Frames, a context symbolizing shelter
and protection within a unified community.
The
Tipi Frames and Sky and Earth Lodge Poles are made of rust-inhibiting
Cor-Ten steel. The double tripod structure provides maximum
stability and wind bracing. Six concrete piers bearing on non-expansive
soils support the Tipi Frames, and minimally disturb the native
prairie during construction.
The
humility of Native American peoples before the Power of the
Great Spirit is epitomized in The Great Bead Loom. This Memorial
to the sacrifice and oppression of all Native Americans will
serve all of humanity as a prayer for Universal Peace.
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